Boeing CEO points at predecessor’s weak leadership for 737 MAX mess

Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun largely blamed his predecessor for the crisis over the 737 MAX, which remains grounded after two deadly crashes, in an interview published Thursday.

Calhoun, a longstanding board member who took over as chief executive on January 13, told the New York Times that the problems at Boeing were even bigger than he anticipated.

“It’s more than I imagined it would be, honestly,” Calhoun said. “And it speaks to the weaknesses of our leadership.” He said predecessor Dennis Muilenburg had ramped up Boeing’s plane production too quickly.

“I’ll never be able to judge what motivated Dennis, whether it was a stock price that was going to continue to go up and up, or whether it was just beating the other guy to the next rate increase,” he said.